120 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



ment Station plots on the college farm during the summer of 1900. 

 The leaf spot disease was quite i>revalent, but seasonable rains follow- 

 ing the early dry weather caused the beets to put forth new leaves 

 which enabled them to store a good amount of sugar during the latter 

 part of the season. Crown gall was occasionally seen, but caused 

 little damage. Sun scorch also caused some trouble in certain plots. 

 Beets which were stored in the root cellar at the college during the 

 winter were found to be affected with heart rot, or dry rot, in the 

 spring of 1901. Beet scab, a disease which appears to be the same 

 as potato scab, was observed in some of the college fields. 



The extreme cool weather during the latter part of May caused a 

 ^'damping off" disease which threatened great destruction of seedling 

 beets which had been planted early, in many parts of the State, but 

 fortunately, however, the warm weather in June enabled the seedlings 

 which were attacked to recover rapidly, in most cases. 



Asparagus rust seems to be spreading throughout the State. The rust 

 first appeared in the college garden this year. No experiments have 

 yet been undertaken at the college to check the spread of this serious 

 disease. 



The testing of clover and grass seeds continues to increase each 

 year, showing that farmers are becoming more careful to purchase 

 better and cleaner seed, thus avoiding the spread of noxious weeds. 



The numbers of weeds and others plants sent for determination has 

 increased during the year past, as well as the general correspondence 

 work. 



Lectures in elementary botany have been given to short course 

 students in horticulture and to the students in the sugar beet course. 



Respectfully submitted, 



C. F. WHEELER, 

 Consulting Botanist Experiment 8tatio7i. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. 

 June 30, 1901. 



